Ahhhh, this video of the CASA 212 below reminded me of my smokejumper days. We used the same aircraft for smokejumper operations, and they are a good aircraft for parachuting and paracargo work. We would dump out paracargo at about 450 to 500 AGL, depending on terrain and weather conditions. Our pilots were awesome at getting bundles onto mountain top ridges, or little meadows.
I also got to assist in kicking cargo as a jumper. There is a lot involved with these types of operations, and we definitely took it seriously. If you get a bundle that does not deploy because of a poorly packed cargo chute, or it hangs up in the door and tears apart the tail of the aircraft, then you could be in a world of hurt. As a jumper, a big portion of my work during the off season was dedicated to repairing cargo chutes, or packing them.
The other aspect of paracargo that doesn’t get much mention is climbing trees for the stuff. You haven’t lived until you had to climb a 200 ft fir tree rocking back and forth in the wind, just to retrieve cargo or retrieve your parachute after a tree landing. In the aircraft, we would drop tree climbing equipment for such missions.
One thing I am surprised at, is why the military doesn’t use it’s fleet of C-23 Sherpas for these kinds of operations? They are just a little bit bigger than CASA 212’s, and you can get a ramp kit for them, so you can kick out cargo out of the tail. I called them flying ‘Winnebagos’ because of their box-like appearance. I think the military uses them to haul around jet engines or something.
In the jumpers we used a bunch of different aircraft to include the Dornier 228 202, Douglas DC-3, and the DH-600 series Twin Otter. The Twin Otter was probably the best all around aircraft for smokejumper operations. Although jumping out of that DC-3 is cool too. The DC-3’s we used were the same ones used during WW2. Obviously the newer ones are highly upgraded, but it is literally the same aircraft, because the airlogs on most of these craft go back that far! It is a solid aircraft and truly an honor to jump out of it. –Head Jundi
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An air to air right side view of a 10th Military Airlift Squadron C-23A Sherpa aircraft. In the background is a castle.